Funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Program, the two-year project seeks to integrate ‘cloud computing’ technologies into ‘grid’ infrastructures. Grids link computers and data that are scattered across the globe to work together for common goals, while cloud computing makes software platforms or virtual servers available as a service over the Internet, usually on a commercial basis, and provides a way for organizations to access computing capacity without investing directly in new infrastructure.

Loomis said that the StratusLab toolkit “will make the grid easier to manage and will allow grids to tap into commercial cloud services to meet peak demands. Later, it will allow organizations that already provide a grid service to offer a cloud service to academic users, while retaining the benefits of the grid approach.”